Trial to Reduce Inappropriate Oesophagogastroduodenoscopies for Dyspepsia

Indigestion or dyspepsia is highly prevalent worldwide. Often these symptoms are of benign nature and subside without treatment, or with lifestyle interventions like dietary modifications. Too often, gastroscopy is performed because of dyspepsia. Although this is indicated when malignancy is suspected, in a substantial part of the cases the gastroscopy is not indicated and will not achieve clinically relevant results. It is suspected that gastroscopy is often used for reassurance of patients or as a 'last resort'. Our hypothesis is that adequate education of patients can replace this need for invasive measures. The aim of this study was therefore to reduce the volume of gastroscopies for dyspepsia, by offering patients an e-learning containing educational material on dyspepsia. During the trial, 119 dyspeptic patients, referred for gastroscopy by the GP, will randomly be divided into two groups: One group will receive the e-learning instead of gastroscopy (intervention), the other group will receive the gastroscopy (control). After a twelve week follow-up, change in symptom severity, disease specific quality of life and fear of disease will be compared between the two groups.